The Land of Unlikeness

If anyone is in or taking a trip to New York soon, consider visiting St. John the Divine Cathedral on Amsterdam at 112th Street. It’s huge. It’s gothic. It’s gorgeous. And of course, it’s under renovation, so if you’ve never seen the place, it might be worth waiting to appreciate its grandeur at a time when wooden barriers no longer block access to the nave. Seeing all 601 feet of it stretch out before you as you enter the church is a dazzling experience that visitors should be able to enjoy again by Easter 2008, according to one of the staff members whom I asked recently. But the temporarily curtailed space still gives you something of a feeling for this amazing cathedral.

Despite its size, St. John the Divine remains “unfinished” because construction stopped at various points since the cornerstone was laid in 1892, according to brochures available there. More brochure info: the cathedral sits on land that once housed the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum. Its design called for a Byzantine-Romanesque style (clearly, some things changed along the way because much of it went Gothic). The front doors were cast in bronze by Ferdinand Barbedienne, the Frenchman responsible for casting the Statue of Liberty. The Great Rose Window in the façade is the largest of its kind in the United States. You see this window from a distance if you approach the cathedral by turning onto 112th St. from Broadway. That’s the easiest way to go if you’re coming from downtown and take the 1 line on the subway to 110th. Walking east on 112th, you’ll get the view of St. John the Divine rising up on a series of steps, with its beautiful doors and façade ornamented with carvings and its famous window.

This is one of the many vistas New York provides. I was also noticing the view last week while walking west from Bryant Park along 41st St. toward Port Authority, which allows you to see, to your right, a large red plastic lobster clinging strangely to the outside of a building housing a well-known chain restaurant, and straight ahead, a multi-tiered metal and concrete garage rising into the sky. I promise the approach to the cathedral is more traditionally picturesque.

St. John the Divine is eclectic—catholic with a lowercase c. Elephants have paraded through the nave during St. Francis Day celebrations, and perhaps will once again post-renovation, when the nave has returned to its original length. There is usually a temporary art exhibition on site. Currently, bright biblical scenes in a fauvist, neo-primitivist vein adorn the walls of the space near the construction barriers by the crossing. They are the work of the contemporary Chinese artist, He Qi.

Then there are all the marvelous cathedral mainstays. The baptistry is covered in carvings that juxtapose tulips and saints, in homage to the Dutch origins of the Stuyvesant family who made this their gift to the church. Two large menorahs flank the alter. They were a gift made in 1930 by Adolf Ochs, then publisher of the New York Times. The Columbarium contains some 500 drawers cut into marble that now hold or will hold cremated remains. A number of people unaffiliated with the Episcopal Church have chosen this as their resting place. A list of names is available on site.

The cathedral also pays tribute to poetry. The Poets’ Corner, off-limits now due to the renovation, shows the dates of various poets’ lives along with one of their famous quotations, all carved into the floor and wall. Still open to see is the Muriel Rukeyser Poetry Wall, a large bulletin board currently located in the ambulatory on the east end. A quote from Rukeyser, a twentieth-century poet and activist, appears at the top of the board and establishes its purpose as a place of written expression for all people, which works in harmony with the mission of the church as a “House of Prayer for All People.” As Rukeyser explained, “I care about a world in which there is not a sense of acceptance or rejection. Every poem that is offered will be posted.” Brief messages and letters often go up alongside the poetry. Sometimes I’ve seen postings in other languages. This last visit I noticed letters with return addresses of “Supermax Road” or “County Jail.”

When your eyes have had their fill of the sites and your mind its fill of the words on the Poetry Wall, you can leave and explore the garden next-door, with its weird sculptures. As I rushed by quickly this last time, running late for an appointment, I thought the main sculpture showed small dragon creatures clamoring over the full contented face of the moon. Maybe it was just me (not climbing on the moon, but misperceiving what I saw). You can see what you think, or else take a pause in your visit over a coffee at the Hungarian Café across the street.

For more information, the cathedral’s official site might be useful:
www.stjohndivine.org